Dead ants.
 

One last post before I go do chores.

As soon as the last bunch of rains stopped, I started seeing ants in my bathroom. I saw a couple crawling around aimlessly, nothing to freak on. But pretty soon I saw dead ones. Dead ones on my counter, in my sink, in my candle, on other items on the counter. I found 10 in one evening on the counter area, all dead in random places.

The next day I noticed there were at least 10 in the bathtub, and then I saw them everwhere else - the floor, stuck in tiny cobwebs in the corners, and even a few where the wall meets the ceiling (their favorite hang out, usually). They just keep coming. I keep cleaning, and they keep showing up. I saw one die - it was crawling ever so slowly, flailing its antennae - and it just stopped.

Yeah, it's kinda freaking me out.

I haven't sprayed ant killer in there for months, and I've had random "healthy" ants since. I thought they may be eating something in the medicine cabinet, but no. So of course I think it has to do with the recent rains. But they didn't show up until after the sky cleared.

My entirely-invented-no-basis-in-fact concept is that during the rains, these guys were battling their asses off, trying to save their swamped home. After the rain stopped, their programming told them it was ok to take some time to look for food, but by then, they were sapped. Plus, their homestead was destroyed and all food stores (do these kind of ants store food) were gone.

Tragic, isn't it?

And I really, really hate our ants, since they just won't go away. But now, as I wash my face and take out my contacts in what is essentially an ant graveyard, I feel kind of bad for them.

I hate ants. We get them every so often. Always someplace weird and completely devoid of discernable food sources. Cats won't eat 'em. The ants just march back and forth in a line. And if it's in a carpeted area I don't notice until it looks like the carpet's moving. Having ants inside makes me feel like I have a dirty home and I hate that. I've never had flocks of dead ones, though. That's spooky!

CP -- As you already know, I feel ya!

I'm having a similar problem. Though I don't see them dying a torturous death, I have noted I haven't seen more than 10 at a time. Usually 5 at a time. I don't know what's going on with the ants. Maybe someone here does.

We've had an insane antfestation since the rain began, they calmed down since it stopped. Everywhere! In everything except food (weird.) I do not feel bad for the dead ant.
Remember that Aardvark cartoon that used to be paired with the Pink Panther cartoons? Wasn't his theme song,"Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant dead ant dead ant, dead ant, dead aaaaant, dead ant dead ant?" Or was that just my personal 3rd grade parody?

I was totally thinking that, Gn!

I don't think it had anything to do with the aardvark. The way I remember this classic bit of comedy being told is:

What did the Pink Panther say when he stepped on an ant?

dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead, ant, etc..


Ah, simpler times.

Hehe, the dead ant, dead ant joke has been around forever. And the Aardvark/Ant cartoons were paired up with the Pink Panther cartoons. But they didn't do the dead ant dead ant joke. Weird.

Don't know how they died, huh? Sounds like somebody may need to buy some air freshener.

I had that same thing happen to me. One morning my bathroom is crawling with ten or so ants. But when I walked into my apartment that same evening, I was struck by the unmistakable smell of death! I dashed into the bathroom, my heart pounding at a furious rate, and found the ants ... still alive. I sighed with relief. The ants seemed surprised to see me -- and in truth I usually get home much later. As it turns out the smell of death was coming from my neighbor's apartment. And all this time we thought he went to Europe. Certainly it explained the screaming we used to hear. But my point is this, what if it had been the ants?

Yet, here I am once again making this all be me. Let's get back to your problem: What if the ants simply came to see you because they enjoyed your company? Had you thought of that?

Perhaps, they were struck by your natural beauty. Or, maybe they used the excuse of the getting out the rain to simply watch you shower. It's true! I've seen it happen. Anyway, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but no matter what you may personally think of ants, the fact is that ants like us! Its true! If they didn't --- they certainly would have killed us by now. The ants have the means and the power to do so at a moments notice. Yet, they don't. What stops them? I'll tell you --- LOVE. Ants = Love. Hate them if you so choose. I can't stop you ... I can only educate.

We always get them coming through the electrical systems....they always come out of the sockets and switches. Last week, I woke up and picked up retainer case to put my retainer away. When I opened it, I saw that the inside was filled with ants. Infact, my entire dresser had them all over.


I hate ants.

Funny you should mention this, because Matterhorn Fan and myself were just at a party at the palacial home of HTHBellCaptain, and he had a horrifying number of ants crawling in at his front door. He made quick work of them with some noxious chemicals, before his other party guests arrived. But I fear that he may have more ant problems if he is not careful.

By the way, HTH sends his love, and tells me that he may appear here tomorrow, after he has cleaned up his house.

DP

For reasons I cannot begin to fathom, over the holiday season they re-did all of the elecrical at work... now when we got back from break... did we notice anything different in the electrical? Sure... we've had a abunch of blackouts... what else you say? Ants. Lots and LOTS of ants.
All over my desk...
So every morning when i get to work, I get to clean up their little carcassas of the ones who did not make it through the night. I cant decide if its sad, or disgusting.

Heehee, Tref! :D

Hmm. Apparently ant infestations are not very popular around here. Intriguing. ;)

Is it the rain? Are ant invasions common this time of year? Up here, it's too damn cold- I've always assumed they hibernate all winter.... Our annual invasion begins around mid-spring.

Who knows. Our ants are insane. They follow no pattern, they know no season, they ignore all food.

Bitter East Coast Ants?

for the record, i bought two large cans of ANT SPRAY this week. one for each end of the house, so i don't have far to go when i see the disgusting march from nowhere. can anyone else ever find where the hell they come from??

i'm all for ants gettin their mojo on, but, not in my house.:mad:

Damned funny post Tref!!! Definitely deserves mojo!

When GusGus and I lived in Rancho Cucamonga, our complex was built on the grounds of old grape vineyards. Ants were just a way of life.

WARNING!!! Gross out story ahead. When I was in college, we were renting a house. There were several half wine barrels out front that had been planters previously (but by the time we got there they were just filled with dirt). The owner decided to do some clean-up one day and we were helping him. I decided to remove the wine barrels. I started by knocking the sides off (fairly easy since time and nature had already done most of the work). The I drove a shovel right into the middle of the remaining dirt pile.

When I did that, it appeared that I had hit an oil line. The ants were so thick, that it looked like a a black liquid flowing out. As I broke that dirt pile down more, I came to discover that the entire mound of dirt was a giant ant farm. I have never seen so many ants in one place in my life.

Gave me the heebie-jeebies for a few nights.

whenever I think of ants I remember the macgyver episode from my youth that gave me freakin nightmares for like a week. Anyone else remember this? Where mac had to basically get out of a old plantation that was literally overrun with african ants?

Embrace the ant, man. Embrace the ant.

I came home last night to find ants all over the kitchen sink. I sprayed after tracking them to the gaps around the dishwasher. I ended up woth spots on my floor that were black with ants. The Boy and I then counted 3-4 queens!! The were young wannabe queens, but still queens.

Grossout story:
I was getting ready to take a shower, turned on the bathtub faucet and nothing for almost 3 seconds then "THUMP". An entire colony (with queen) came out!! I had ants all over the tub. They became boiled ants very quickly.

It just amazes me that they can set up shop so fast.

West-Hollywood Cheerleaders?:p

Hehehehe I really need to get my tipsy ass to bed.

ok now THAT was funny ;)

one wonders, is there such as thing as gay ants?:confused:

Well, I always thought that Flik was a little, shall we say, creative. And, I hear, he hangs out with that cute Dave Foley guy.

Why do you have a picture of Margaret Thatcher entertaining her grandchildren while some workman tests the phone?

And then I came home to a bunch of small gnatty-things on the bookcase next to my bed. I think it's time to head to Target for some noxious chemicals.

Heehee! I'd mojo you but I can't at the moment. :D

I came home to more dead ants in the bathroom. Not as many as I thought I'd see, but still. It feels pointless to clean them up...

Clean them up and wipe the area down with 409 or something like that. Dead ants put off a phermone that attracts other ants to their body.

I lived in Flrodia for a few years in the 70s. Our home backed up to an orange grove.

We could go to bed with nothing in our yard, and wake up to a red ant mound 2 feet by 2 feet and 6-8 inches high. Those things were incredible. New show in the ant world - extreme mound makeover - they have 7 minutes instead of 7 days.

Anyway, the only way to get rid of them was to pour gas or kerosene on the mound and ignite it. Just too many of them for any insecticide method. not that I would endorse that method for indoors issues. I feel I must make the disclaimer for fear of lawsuit when someone tries it.

My dad did this to the red ant hill in our street. I was bitten by those guys a couple times. I was sure the fire would hit some sort of gas main and blow us all to kingdom come. All that happened is that the ants stayed away, permanently.

I went to put on my contacts this morning and what do I find? Dead ants swimming in my contact case! :mad: No other ants to be found.

Did you leave it open? I'm rather meticulous about shutting mine. My eyes get pissed off at my contacts enough as it is, without ant parts in the mix. Blech.

There is some technical name for these ants - there really is, though I can't think of it. There are a variety of smaller black ants that live in smaller colonies and will typically make their homes under cabinetry. I used to have this problem in my kitchen. I was told that to solve it you need to drill a small hole in the baseboard going through to underneath your cabinet. You then can pump a small amount of a dry powder under the cabinet and plug it. I purchased everything I needed at Home Depot.

No that's the weird thing. It was snapped shut but I think that's the problem it's not a screw on cap it's snaps on and off I'm sure they found a way to get in. So I'm with no contacts for a few hours. I'd rather wear glasses then have Ant guts in my eye's ;)

I wonder if I'm putting out out dead ant pheremone. That would explain a lot.

The roaming rodent pulled out a couple of rags we have stuffed in a hole in the kitchen (it leads under the sink and behind the dishwasher-if not plugged she gets in there) and a whole new crop of dead ants came out. Little fart was trying to steal the rags to stash them under the couch, but they were dropped right in front of the hole. I guess she got the heebie-jeebies from all of the carcasses.